The European Union and the developing countries

"The relationships between the European Union and developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (or ACP countries) have been called a model for North-South development cooperation. The Lome Conventions were the employment of this model. After 25 years, the European Union and the ACP group signed a new partnership agreement, the Cotonou Agreement. Given the disappointing results of the former conventions, this book investigates the innovations in the EU-ACP relationship.

Authors from different backgrounds (including law, political science and economics) analyse the forces that gave rise to the new agreement as well as the negotiating process of the new agreement, and the negotiations that are taking place to produce the planned Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that are to replace the exiting non-reciprocal trade preferences that are incompatible with WTO law."--BOOK JACKET.